The hero
is always on some type of adventure with a purpose--a quest if you will. He
experiences many things on this quest, among which is a descent into a kind of "hell."
In this hell he experiences a low point in his life that leaves him scarred
forever with a real or psychological wound that will not heal. The hero learns
from this descent into "hell" much about himself and usually matures
greatly from the experience.

The Journey and Unhealable
Wound

Luke in
Star Wars perhaps illustrates this stage best. His quest, without
knowing it at first, is to rescue his father from the Dark Side of the Force.
Luke's descent into hell occurs when he decides to rescue his friends trapped on
Cloud City, Lando Calrissian's gas mining operation. He leaves his Jedi
training before it is completed to perform this rescue. Luke is not prepared to
face Darth Vader, who is waiting for him at the gas mine.

Check this
out. This scene (above right) is in the carbon-freeze chamber on Cloud City,
where Darth plans to trap Luke. Does the lighting and characters remind you of
anything? Thought so. In the duel that takes place between Luke and Darth in
this chamber and beyond (right), Luke loses his hand and chooses to jump to
almost certain death rather than give in to Vader's proposal to join the Dark
Side of the Force. Luke's loss of his right hand in the duel is his Unhealable
Wound. Clearly, this is the lowest point in Luke's journey to become a Jedi
Knight and save his father. His wound and this low point teach him about
himself, however, and eventually help him to become a true hero.

Other
heroes suffer low points in their journeys. Arthur never recovers from the
affair Guinevere has with Lancelot. William Wallace knew his execution would
make him a martyr, so he was courageous as he was in his "hell"--the
dungeon. Moses' doubt of himself and Yahweh cause him to suffer his Unhealable
Wound: denial of entry to the Promised Land. Simba's descent into "hell"
is combined with his defeat of Scar and the hyenas. Remember all the flames in
the background as he fights Scar? He symbolically goes where none of the other
lions could go in order to help his tribe and prove himself. Simba's Unhealable
Wound? His past, where his courage failed him and his tribe, will always haunt
him.